By Margit Feher

BUDAPEST--OTP Bank Nyrt. (OTP.BU), Hungary's largest bank by assets and market share, posted a smaller-than-expected decline Tuesday in first-quarter net profit as its loan-loss provisioning turned out to be the lowest in nearly two years and revenue was stronger than forecast.

Consolidated net profit was 11.23 billion forints ($49.74 million) in the first quarter, down 12% from a net profit of HUF12.83 billion a year earlier, mostly due to the bank booking all of its 2013 banking-sector tax in the period. OTP booked a HUF29.23 billion banking-sector tax in the first quarter to leave coming quarters unburdened by the levy. Hungary has levied special taxes on the banking, energy, telecommunications and retail sectors since 2010 to plug budget holes.

The first-quarter net profit was above the HUF9.85 billion consensus forecast in a poll of 18 analysts provided by the company.

OTP, which operates throughout Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Russia and Ukraine, said its earnings per share fell to HUF41 from HUF47 a year earlier.

When adjusted mostly for the special sectoral tax in Hungary, consolidated net profit totaled HUF40.74 billion, down 7% from HUF43.77 billion a year earlier but higher than the HUF39.02 billion that analysts had forecast. It was up a steep 55% from the previous quarter due to lower loan-loss provisions.

Apart from the banking-sector tax, OTP's corporate tax more than doubled from the year-earlier period due to a rise in the effective corporate tax rate, while operating costs increased 4%, both depressing the bottom line. Net interest income, meanwhile, rose 1% and net fees and commissions increased 5% from a year earlier, defying expectations for remaining virtually unchanged.

Investors will likely welcome the fall in OTP's loan-loss provisions and risk costs, which totaled HUF55.01 billion in the January-March period, the lowest quarterly level since HUF50.1 billion in the second quarter of 2011. That was down a sharp 22% from the previous quarter and 6% lower than a year earlier. Analysts, who had said they would be paying close attention to the level of provisions, had forecast it at HUF56.62 billion.

Loan portfolio deterioration continued in the first three months with loan repayments overdue for more than 90 days increasing to 19.9% of the overall loan stock from 19.1% in the previous quarter. Coverage of the overdue loans by loan-loss provisions increased to 80.3% from 80.0%.

Banks' profits in Hungary have come under pressure partly from both the hefty banking sector tax and also a late 2010 government program to help foreign-currency mortgage holders. Banks were asked by the government to shoulder the cost of the program, which was designed to help borrowers who took out the mortgages, mostly in Swiss francs, and then ran into trouble with repayments as large gains in the franc pushed up the cost of the loans.

Other factors weighing on Hungary's banking sector include the recessionary economic environment and high unemployment. Facing difficulties in their finances, both Hungarian households and companies have been trying to reduce their loans.

Contribution to first-quarter profit was outstanding from the Bulgarian and shrinking from the Russian unit. Quarterly results improved in Slovakia and Ukraine while subsidiaries in Romania and Serbia remained loss-makers.

OTP's shares closed up 2.1% Monday at HUF4,965, while the exchange's benchmark BUX index closed 1% higher.

Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@dowjones.com

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